29 Fun, Cheap Date Night Ideas

We all know that going on dates as a couple is so important to maintaining romance and fun in a relationship. But, between baby-sitters and the cost of dinner and entertainment, finding cheap, fun dates can be difficult. We asked several people what their favorite date under $10 was, and this is what they said:

Go Outdoors on Your Date

Almost everyone I interviewed mentioned doing something outside, so I’m not even going to list all their names, for it’d be a lot of repeats. Activities outside are free (as long as no equipment is required or you have it already), it’s fun, and it’s beautiful.

Hiking or walking in nature

Picnicking at the Park

Mountain Biking or Road Biking

Tandem biking

Rock Climbing

Rope Swings

Hot Springs or Swimming

Fishing

Target Shooting

Star Gaze

Fly kites

Play frisbee golf at a nearby park

Play sports such as tennis, racket ball, or golfing. One of my favorite group dates was playing night games outside with other couples. Who said that games like Kick the Can were only for kids?!

Create Your Own Adventure

Jason decided to set up his own cooking show on a date instead of going to a gourmet restaurant. He and his date and the rest of the group (it was a group date) had to make crème brûlée without any recipe. You could try doing a competition like Chopped, and have to make dinner and dessert with really weird ingredients.

Garrett likes going on picture scavenger hunts. Some apps have scavenger hunts in your local big city that you can participate in. You run around finding different destinations and snap a picture of them before rushing off to the next place. Or, you can create your own scavenger hunt with a group of friends.

Volunteer at a local charity together. This is such a great way to boost your sense of purpose and happiness as a couple. You could also put charity and games together. For example, you compete against other couples to be the first to check off a service oriented scavenger hunt. The show Random Acts on BYUTV has some great ideas of this.

Andrea loved playing board games, making cookies, and drawing funny pictures on newspaper with her date.

Pretend you’re a tourist and explore areas of your city that tourists usually explore. Sometimes the locals never get around to seeing these cool places because it’s so convenient- we can always do it later.

Spas are too expensive? Try a spa night at home and pamper each other.

Find Cheap, Local Places to Go

There are several cheap places in the area if you hunt around. Erica said they enjoy $1 bowling at the local university, going to free yoga classes, and getting street tacos and ice cream.

Other people suggest taking advantage of happy hour and having your dinner full of appetizers.

Jennifer suggested getting cheap food at Costco and going to the park.

Whitney and her husband like going to the Nickel Arcade. All of the games are a nickel. She said, “My husband and I started going to Nickel City when we first started dating and went several times. We decided on our first time that we would save our tickets so we could get something good eventually. On our third time going after getting married, we had the tickets counted and we had 3,200. We were able to get a two teddy bears for our baby: Corduroy and Paddington, plus a Laffy Taffy for each of us. We’ve made a lot of fun memories at Nickel City.”

You can try bargaining for sports events and concerts. Carolina said, “Michael and I went to my first BYU [football] game for free. We were asking for tickets for sale and a guy asked me if I wanted tickets and he said $20 for two and I said mmm less? and he said never mind take it for free haha. And it was so much fun night. They won haha.”

Natalie said that she and her husband like going to the book store and browsing the books there. Then, they grab some ice cream. One person on Pinterest said they liked leaving notes (sticky notes I imagine-we do not advocate harming of books…) in their favorite books to leave as a surprise for the future buyer. How fun would that be?!

Alex loves going to car shows with his wife.

It would be hilarious to do a breaking the social norm project or harmless pranks in the park. For example, you can dress up in silly Halloween costumes and put on a play for random people walking by. Shana likes going to the local thrift store and bring on the funniest outfits that they can piece together.

Get Creative with Baby-Sitting

Karen said she used to trade off baby-sitting with another couple in the neighborhood. One couple would have a fun, at-home movie night with all the kids and the other couple was free to go out. This way no money was spent on baby-sitting.

One you-tuber got really creative and set up an inflatable pub in his backyard. Kids stayed indoors and entertained themselves (they were obviously old enough that this works) and the couple had a lot of fun reminiscent of their childhood love of pop up toys. I’ve also seen several ideas of setting up forts in the living room or backyard. Watch a movie in them or play fun games.

What’s Your Idea of a Fun, Cheap Date Night?

We would love to add to this list! Leave a comment on what your favorite cheap date nights are.

Tanya is a licensed clinical social worker who worked for several years at various therapy clinics before becoming a stay at home mom. She loves helping families find tools and methods they can apply to helping children overcome any challenge.